EDUCAT) 


JEPART Mg 
The Duties and kesponsibilities of District Trustees. 
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READ BEFORE THE 


New YORK STATE ASSOCIATION 


OF 


SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS, 


AT 


Cobleskill, N. Y., Wednesday, December 2, 1891, 


BY 


ANDREW S. DRAPER, 


STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PuBLIC INSTRUCTION, NEW YorK. 


ALBANY: 


JAMES B. LYON, STATE PRINTER. 
1891. 





re 
FPS 


The Duties and Responsibilities of 
District Trustees. 


Under all of our American State school systems, local officers are 
created by law, who have the custody of school property and whose 
official duty it is to attend to the business side of local school admin- 
istration. This is so both in the cities and in the country. They 
are given various titles, suchas the “ board of education,” the ‘“ school 
committee,” “directors,” “trustees,” ete. They are chosen in various 
ways, commonly, though not invariably by election in the country 
and the smaller cities, and by appointment in the larger cities. 
Whether in city or country, the manner of their selection and the 
scope of their authority and responsibility are fixed and determined 
by the statutes of the several States. In the cities it is governed 
by special enactments having reference to each particular city, 
and in the country by general laws applying equally to all 
districts. 

This paper will only treat of the duties and responsibilities of this 
class of officers in the rural districts of the State of New York. 


NuMBER OF TRUSTEES. 


They are called “trustees.” In ordinary school districts there 
may be one trustee, or three at the option of the district. Districts 
may change from one to three or from three to one at will. In 
changing from three to one, time must. be allowed for terms to 
expire. In union free school districts there must be a board of not 
less than three or more than nine members. The number is fixed by 
the electors at the organization of the district, and may be changed 
by the action of the county board of supervisors. 

Where there is but one trustee in a district, he is called a “sole 
trustee,” and has all the authority of a board in other districts. 
Where there are more than one they must act together as a board. 
The board can transact business only when in session. A meeting 
can occur only when all are present or have had the statutory notice 


_ of twenty-four hours. 


55889 


4 


ELECTION. 


Trustees are ordinarily elected at the annual school meetings, and 
a majority of all the votes is required to elect. The election need 
not be by ballot, but may be by viva voce vote, or by show of hands, 
or by a division of the house, or in any other way determined by 
the school meeting. This is not invariably the case, however. In 
school districts having more than 300 children of school age, the 
election must be by ballot, and is held on the Wednesday succeed- 
ing the annual school meeting, between the hours of 12 and 4 
o’clock. In such elections a majority of all the votes cast is not 
necessary to elect, for the person receiving the highest number of 
votes is chosen. But the law requiring election by ballot on the 
day succeeding the school meeting does not apply to the counties 
of Chenango, Erie, Richmond, St. Lawrence, Suffolk, Warren and 
Westchester. Nor does it apply to any union free school dis- 
trict whose boundaries correspond with those of an incorporated 
village. In districts of the latter class the trustees are elected by 
ballot at the time village officers are chosen. 


CUSTODIANS OF ScHOOL PROPERTY. 


Trustees are the custodians of all school property. 

If a new site is to be purchased the trustee is to transact the 
business. If a new school building is to be erected, the law charges 
the responsibility of proper construction upon the trustees. The. 
district meeting must authorize the work. It must determine how 
much may be expended. It may determine the proportions and 
character of the building. It may approve plans, estimates and 
specifications. It may say whether the building shall be erected by 
contract or by day’s work. The trustee must observe these direc- 
tions, but the immediate management of the business is in his own 
hands. He has authority and responsibility in the matter. The 
district can not interfere with him. It can not empower a building 
committee to have charge of the work, or to share responsibility 
and authority with the trustee. The trustee must, within the limits 
of his general directions, determine details. In the absence of 
directions he must exercise his best judgment. He may do what- 
ever is necessarily incidental to the accomplishment of the end in 
view. He must let the contracts and to contractors who are responsi- 
ble or can insure the successful completion of the work, or he must 
purchase the material and employ the labor for the performance of 
the work. His agreements and bargains must be made with the 
interests of his district continually in view. He is bound to possess 


5 


reasonable ability for the transaction of such business or to give 
way to one who does. The materials he buys must be suitable, the 
labor he employs must be competent. He must see that contracts 
are satisfactorily performed. He must see that money is provided 
and payments made when due. He must accept the work when 
fully and properly completed and refuse to do so until it is. 


REPAIRS TO ScHOOL PROPERTY. 


Trustees are required to make needed repairs to school buildings. 
The district meeting should authorize repairs and provide the means 
to meet the expenses thereof. In case of the neglect of the meeting 
to do this, the trustee may expend a sum not exceeding twenty dol- 
lars in any year, in making repairs, and must make repairs ordered 
by the school commissioner, provided the expense does not exceed 
the sum of two hundred dollars in any year. Taxes may be levied 
for the amount of such expenditures without the authorization of 
the district meeting. 

OUT-BUILDINGS. 

Under the “ Health and Decency Act” (chap. 538 L. 1887) trus- 
tees must provide two suitable and convenient water-closets, with 
proper division fence and screens, and must keep the same in clean 
and wholesome condition. All expenses involved in doing this may, 
upon the approval of the school commissioner, be raised by tax 
without the vote of the district meeting. 


APPLIANCES AND SUPPLIES. 


Trustees are obliged to see that school-houses are properly fur- 
nished and supplied with implements necessary to the comfort and 
convenience of the school. Ordinarily, district meetings will make 
generous provision for any matter of this kind which is brought to 
their attention. In the absence of such provision, trustees may 
expend not to exceed fifteen dollars each year for a dictionary, maps, 
globes or other school apparatus. Upon the order of the school 
commissioner, trustees must repair furniture or buy additional fur- 
niture and supplies, provided the expense is not more than $100 in 
each year. 


INTENT OF THE LAW TO PROVIDE SUITABLE BUILDINGS. 


It thus appears that it is the intent of the law to provide suitable 
school accommodations. In the first instance, school districts are 
authorized and encouraged to go as far as they will in this matter. 
Experience proves to me that school meetings are ordinarily dis- 


6 


posed to be very generous about such matters. Where adequate 
provision is not made, it is commonly because the matter was not 
brought up in the district meeting as it should have been, or because 
of dissatisfaction in the district and of lack of confidence in the per- 
sons who are managing its affairs. The law undertakes to guard 
against failure for any cause by conferring upon trustees powers to 
do certain things, and by conferring upon commissioners ample 
power to require still greater things to be done without the action 
of the district meetings. 

When we remember that we are now treating of the small, inex- 
pensive rural school buildings, of which there are more than 11,000 
in the State, and find that supervisory officers have legal authority 
for requiring the expenditure of more than $300 in each district each 
year for repairs and furnishings, and when we recall that districts 
may be required to abandon unfit buildings and erect new ones, we 
must necessarily conclude that if the school property of the State 
is not suitable for school purposes, it is not the fault of the law, 
but of officers charged with its execution. 


UssE oF Scuoout PROPERTY. 


Trustees are the custodians of school property and it devolves 
upon them to see that it is safely cared for and protected from injury 
or loss. School property is intended primarily for school pur- 
poses. While the law has not gone so far as to declare that it shall 
never be used for any other purpose, we are certainly safe in saying 
that it can not be used for any other purpose which in any way con- 
flicts with its use for school purposes. The statute expressly 
authorizes trustees to permit school buildings, when not in use by 
the school, to be used for ‘‘ giving and receiving instruction in any 
branch of education or learning or in the science or practice of 
music.” ‘T'rustees will notice that this is the only express statutory 
provision upon the subject, and that it is only permissive. They 
are not compelled to allow it to be used even for such purposes. 
Whether they should do so or not depends upon all the facts of each 
case. They should take the course which will be sustained by the 
people of the district, because it will best promote their interests. 

Under the decisions of the State Department, trustees may, in their 
discretion, permit school buildings to be used for still other pur- 
poses. It sometimes happens that the people of a district desire 
_ to use the school-house for religious services or other public meet- 
ings. Such use is not absolutely prohibited, but is looked upon 
with disfavor. If no one objects and if the use does no injury to 


7 


the property, the trustee is justified in permitting it. If objection 
is made by anyone who is not pestiferous by nature, the safe course 
is to heed it. In any event, he is bound to see that no injury is 
done to the property, and that the common rights which all have 
in it are in no wise infringed or abridged. 

From this it logically follows that a school-house can not, under 
objection, be used for any purpose which is repugnant to the general 
good of the district. It must promote the interests of all the resi- 
dents. It can not be used for any purpose which excludes any resi- 
dent of the district, such, for instance as an entertainment at which 
an admission fee is charged or for the meetings of a secret society. 
If the use is permitted for religious services, the trustee would not 
be permitted to discriminate in favor of or against any particular 
sect or denomination. It can not be used for any purpose to which 
any one may object on conscientious grounds. Indeed the trustee 
is wise who will not permit a school-house in his charge to be used 
for any purpose to which any person of fair standing and good 
intentions may object on any ground. 


EMPLOYMENT OF ‘TEACHERS. 


Trustees are required to employ teachers. There are numerous 

limitations upon their action in so doing, which must be strictly 
observed. 
_ No person can be employed who does not hold a certificate issued 
by competent authority. The reason of this, of course, is to insure 
the employment of a person who is competent to teach the school. 
The trustee need not be concluded by the certificate. He is wise if 
he is not. He should not employ any person who does not show 
stability of character and give reasonable promise of filling the 
position satisfactorily. 

Trustees in ordinary school districts can not employ any person 
as teacher who is within two degrees of relationship by blood or 
marriage, except with the approval of two-thirds of the voters 
attending a district meeting. This rule does not apply to union 
free school districts. 

A board of trustees can not employ a teacher for more than .one 
year in advance. A sole trustee can not employ a teacher beyond. 
his own term of office unless the term of employment begins during 
his term of office and does not continue more than sixteen weeks, 
without the consent of a majority of the voters attending a district 
meeting. 


8 


No teacher can be employed for a shorter term than ten weeks. 
This is, however, only a limitation. It does not indicate the length 
of timefor which teachers should be employed. It is only the shortest 
time for which they may be employed. ‘Trustees should employ 
teachers for a term sufficiently long to enable them to show their 
competency or their incapacity for the trust, and teachers of 
proved competency should be continued as long as possible in the 
same position. 

Nothing is so unfortunate as that a trustee shall imagine that the 
authority to employ a teacher is a personal perquisite, that by 
means of it he may do a favor to some relative or friend. Nothing 
could be farther from the fact. The authority is one which he is 
bound to exercise with a view only to the good of the district. 


MEMORANDUM OF EMPLOYMENT. 


The statute requires that at the time of employment trustees 
shall make and deliver to the teacher a memorandum showing the 
details of the agreement between the parties, and particularly set- 
ting forth the length of the time of employment, the amount of 
compensation and the times when the wages will be due. There 
has been some misapprehension about this. The law does not 
require that contracts shall be in writing in order to be valid. The 
memorandum is not the contract; it is only the evidence of it. The 
agreement is valid without it, but the trustee is required to deliver 
it for the protection of the teacher. 


COMPENSATION OF ‘TEACHERS. 


The law confers upon the trustee power to fix the pay of the 
teacher. The district meeting has nothing to do with it. It hasno 
right to attempt to control the trustee in the matter. He has the 
absolute right under the law to pay whatever he thinks advisable. 
It was manifestly the intent of the law to keep a prolific source of 
iritation and contention out of district meetings and at the same 
time make sure of proper pay for teachers. 

I have never known this power to be exercised to the disadvan- 
tage of the district. Trustees commonly pay less wages than dis- 
trict meetings would authorize for the reason that they act in a 
representative capacity. Weak trustees very commonly imagine ~ 
that they may gain favor with their constituencies by browbeating 
and starving teachers, and such men ordinarily go to the wall in 
short order, as they ought. Inefficient teachers are costly at any 


9 


price. If trustees would invariably employ teachers who are 
thoroughly suited to the place to be filled and pay them as much as 
such services are justly worth, they would almost as invariably find 
themselves supported by the people of their districts. 

The statute requires trustees to pay teachers as often as at the 
end of every month of the term of employment. Any contract 
in conflict with this requirement is to that extent void. The 
teacher can not legally waive his rights under this statute. If he 
assumes to do so, he may reassert his rights at any time. 

A trustee can not draw a warrant for a teacher’s pay unless there 
is money in the hands of the proper officer to meet the same. If 
he were to do so he would commit a crime. 

It is the duty of trustees to provide moneys with which to pay 
teachers’ wages as the same become due. The annual district meet- 
ing should authorize the trustee to raise by tax an amount sufficient, 
with the public moneys allotted to the district, to pay the teacher 
for the ensuing year. If this is not done, the trustee has power under 
the statute to levy taxes, without the action of the district meeting, 
for teachers’ wages for four months in advance. It will thus be 
seen that if there is any lack of funds to pay teachers’ wages, it is 
clearly due to the inaction of the trustee. 

Unfortunately, many districts have in the past been in the habit 
of mortgaging their public moneys in advance of their receipt. 
Under late amendments to the statute this practice is clearly unlaw- 
ful. It costs no more to have funds on hand with which to meet legal 
demands against the district, while it promotes the orderly transac- 
tion of the public business, conserves the rights of all and promotes 
the efliciency of the school system. 


VIOLATIONS OF CONTRACTS. 


Teachers can not be discharged during the term of employment 
“except for reasons which, if appealed to the Superintendent of 
Public Instruction, shall be held to be sufficient cause for such dis- 
missal.” A teacher must be able to perform what he agrees and 
undertakes to do. If he can not manage the school, if he can not 
properly instruct it, he can not perform his contract on his part, 
and the district need not on its part. If he neglects his duties 
the trustees may dismiss him. If he is guilty of immoral conduct, 
application should be made to the school commissioner to revoke 
his certificate. If he refuses to perform his agreement without 
sufficient reason, the law expressly declares that his certificate 
should be revoked for it. But barring these things, he can not be 

2 


10 


molested before the end of the term of employment. If for any 
reason, for which the teacher is not responsible —such as the 
occurrence of holidays or the outbreak of a contagious disease, 
the school is temporarily interrupted, the teacher is entitled to 
full pay, provided he stands continually ready to fulfill his agree- 
ment. The State Department will enforce such claims. If he 
should be dismissed for a cause held by the State Superintendent 
to be sufficient, his pay would cease and terminate. If the alleged 
cause of dismissal was held to be insufficient and the amount 
of damages suffered by him was well determined and perfectly clear, 
the Superintendent would direct the district to pay him. If his 
relations with the district are wholly interrupted, he is bound 
to make reasonable effort to secure other employment. If he suc- 
ceeds, the compensation he may thus receive must go in reduction 
of any claim he may have against the district. In such cases, the 
amount of damages being uncertain, he must resort to the courts to 
enforce his rights. The State department has no facilities for 
measuring such damages, and does not undertake to do so. 


TEACHERS TO MANAGE THE SCHOOL. 


Thus it is seen that the law of the State is at much pains to define 
the authority of trustees and the rights of teachers, and to regulate 
the relations which they sustain to each other. It is the policy of 
the law to require competency and fitness on the part of the teacher, 
and then to give him charge of the school and protect him from 
improper interference. Even the trustee can not take the manage- 
ment of the school into his own hands. That duty devolves upon 
the teacher, and he must be presumed to be specially trained for 
its performance. If he produces results that are desirable, well and 
good; if not, he must give way to one who can. But he is entitled 
to the moral support, the kindly help and the sympathetic co-opera- 
tion of the trustee in his efforts for success. 


Wuo May ATTEND THE SCHOOLS. 
All resident children between 5 and 21 years old are entitled to 


attend the district school. Children who do not reside in the dis- 


trict may attend upon the payment of such tuition fees as trustees 
may determine. The question as to what constitutes residence is 
therefore frequently presented. A child is staying, apart from its 
parents, with relatives or others who desire to send it to the district 
school. Another is out at service, but upon condition that it shall 


11 


go to school. It is not strange that these things most frequently 
occur in districts having the best schools. The trustee attempts to 
collect tuition fees in such cases, and the claim is advanced that the 
child is a resident of the district and entitled of right to attend the 
school. 

The trustee must determine all such cases upon the facts of each 
case. There is not much that can be said to help him. The ques- 
tion of a child’s residence is most difficult to determine, for it turns 
upon the intent of its parents or legal guardians. A child is pre- 
sumed to reside with its parents or guardians, but it may reside 
elsewhere with their consent. If the child is living in the district 
only temporarily, and for the manifest purpose of gaining the 
advantages of superior schools, he should pay tuition. If he is 
permanently or for an indefinite time living with relatives, or others 
who are willing to care for him because of either relationship or 
philanthropy, he must be considered a resident pupil and entitled 
to attend the school. Even though he comes into the district to 
work, if he came without reference to the school, he may attend it. 
Trustees must decide. Aggrieved parties have the right of appeal 
to the State department. Trustees may deprive children, held by 
them to be non-residents, of the privileges of the schools. 

A person paying school taxes in a district where he does not 
reside may send his children to school in that district and require 
that the amount of his school taxes shall be deducted from his 
tuition bills. 

TERMS OF SCHOOL. 

The terms of school, and consequently the length of the time of 
the employment of teachers, is also to be determined by the trus- 
tees. There is but one limitation upon their action. At least 
thirty-two weeks of school must be held within each school year 
in order to entitle the district to share in the public school 
moneys. 

But it is of the utmost consequence that school terms, even in the 
country, shall be fixed and regular. Irregularity in this matter 
begets irregularity in attendance and indifference to the work of 
the school. 

STUDIES AND TEXT-BOOKS. 

The law seems to imply that the studies to be pursued in ordinary 
school districts, shall be determined by teachers under the advice 
of school commissioners, and that the selection of text-books 
shall be by the district meeting. In Union Free School districts 
these matters rest more largely with the board of education. - 


12 


DRAWBACKS. 


Trustees ought to remember that the great drawbacks upon the 
country schools are frequent changes of teachers, lack of incentives 
to pupils, and the absence of the best text-books, as well as of uni- 
formity in such text-books as are in use. A considerable number of 
commissioners have, in the last year or two, been actively engaged 
in a most commendable effort to inaugurate a regular course of 
study and to set up a plan for grading the country schools, and for 
passing pupils from one grade to the next, through a system of 
examinations, until they complete the course of study and graduate 
from the school. The great difficulty in the rural schools is that 
pupils are irregular, always commencing, commonly plod along 
without any distinct end in view, and ordinarily fail to get any- 
where, while in the city and village schools all are ambitious to 
excel, or at least ashamed to fall behind their fellows, and all are 
anxious to complete the course. 

A trustee who would do a splendid thing for his district, will aid 
these efforts of the school commissioners, hold regular terms, get 
the best teacher and keep her as long as possible, secure fresh and 
uniform text-books, and insist upon regularity, discipline and 
educational health and growth. 


CoLLECTION OF District TAXEs. 


One of the most important duties devolving upon district trus- 
tees is the collection of district taxes. The process of collection is 
frequently looked upon as intricate and difficult, and many trustees 
hesitate and temporize about the matter. Such trustees always 
get into trouble, and they get indeeply. ‘The proper and successful 
transaction of district business depends upon the prompt collection 
of district taxes. Hesitation or delay about the collection of taxes 
always breeds opposition on the part of the taxpayer, and obstructs 
and demoralizes all the business of the school district. 

When a tax has been voted, or when the time arrives for the col- 
lection of taxes authorized by law, trustees should proceed promptly 
to raise the same. The process is not intricate. The power to levy 
taxes is a high and sacred one. It can only be conferred by the 
Legislature. When conferred and when exercised, it must be exer- 
cised in the precise way the Legislature directs. As alawyer would 
put it, the statutes conferring the power must be strictly construed 
and followed with exactness. The statutes in relation to the collec- 
tion of school taxes are very full and minute. What trustees have 


: 13 


to do is to read the law, which is or should be in the possession of 
every one, and do precisely as it directs. Complete instructions, 
with blank forms, are found in the code and the school registers. 
These instructions and forms are the result of many years of expe- 
rience. To depart from them, even in minute particulars, is to incur 
great danger of an entire failure of the whole proceeding. 

It is not practicable for me to comment upon or even enumerate 
the several steps in the proceeding, but possibly two or three sug- 
gestions may aid trustees to avoid the errors or omissions which are 
most common. 

Probably more tax-lists are invalid because of the omission of the 
heading “ showing for what purpose the different items of the tax 
are levied,” and because of including an item which is not authorized 
by law or by vote, than for any other reason. 

The valuations upon which taxes are levied are a frequent source 
of contention. ‘T'axes are assessable against the persons who own 
or possess the taxable property at the time the tax-list is made out. 
The valuations are to be “ascertained, so far as possible, from the 
last assessment-roll of the town, after revision by the assessors.” 
This, of course, means that trustees shall follow the assessment-rolls, 
unless that is impossible. If a building has been erected, or if one 
has been burned since the assessment-rolls were made, it is proper 
to fix a new valuation. But this should not be done unless some- 
thing has occurred to necessarily and materially change the value 
since it was determined by the assessors. It is not the policy of the 
law to authorize school officers to fix valuations, but to commit such 
duty to officers specially chosen for its performance. ‘Trustees are 
ordinarily safe when they follow the assessment-rolls, and on danger- 
ous ground when they take some other course. 

Another common mistake is the failure to exact, approve and file 
the collector’s bond. Itis a simple matter. Blank forms may be 
found in every register. Still it is frequently neglected, until some 
one who doubts the responsibility of the collector, or some one who 
wants to make trouble for him or the trustee, raises the. question 
and stops the enforcement of the tax. 

These are but the more common difficulties. They are only used 
as illustrations. They and all like them may be easily avoided by 
reading the law and the instructions and using the forms which are 
provided in the registers, and by remembering that any other way 
leads to destruction. It is easier to go right than wrong in the light 
of all that has been said and done to guide trustees in the matter, 


14 


and yet many of them ingeniously seek ways for going astray, and 
then look upon the process for raising school taxes with mingled 
feelings of awe, wonder, trepidation and indignation. It will 
probably always be so. | 


ALTERATION OF DISTRIOTS. 


School commissioners may make orders changing the boundaries 
of school districts, to take effect immediately upon the consent of 
the trustees of the districts affected. Without such consent the 
order is only provisional and can not take effect within three months 
and then only upon certain contingencies. This makes the consent 
of the trustee very important, and he is frequently in great trouble 
to know what to do about the matter. The safe course is to refuse 
consent unless the general sentiment of the district favors the 
change. Such refusal does not prevent the change. If it is 
important it will be brought about in the other way after every one 
has had an opportunity to be heard. An opportunity to have his 
day in court is a right which belongs to every intelligent and 
honest man who has a grievance or opposes an innovation which 
affects his interests. 


DEFENDING Suits on APPEALS. 


All trustees are liable to be involved in legal proceedings. It may 
be necessary for them to bring or defend suits or appeals. In all 
such matters take the sentiment of the district. Trustees have no 
right to initiate or prolong litigation unless the majority of the 
district wish it. The costs and expenses of litigation which has 
been authorized by the district must be met by it. When not so 
authorized the district may pay these expenses except in the case 
of suits against trustees to collect penalties or enforce the decisions 
of the State Superintendent. The expenses of suits of that class 
they must pay from their own pockets. If the district has not 
authorized the trustee to engage in a litigation and refuses to pay 
the expenses of such as he has engaged in, he may appeal to the 


county judge, who is required to hear all parties and determine ~ 


whether such costs and expenses should be charged upon the 
district, and his determination is final. This protects the rights of 
all concerned, while it provides the machinery for meeting the 
proper expenses of enforcing the law. . 


15 


TRUSTEES’ NOTES. 


Experience shows that it is very common for trustees to borrow 
money for the district and give their notes for the same. The cus- 
tom is entirely without authority and dangerous. Such notes are 
only the personal notes of the trustee and are not enforceable against 
the district. Otherwise the trustee might involve the district in an 
indefinite amount. It is possible that the trustee might enforce his 
own claim against the district for moneys advanced in case he was 
authorized by vote or by law to incur the expense, but such a pro- 
ceeding would be unbusiness-like and highly inadvisable. 

The practice of raising loans by note to meet ordinary expenses 
in anticipation of a tax levy, must not be confounded, however, with 
the bonding of a district to meet the expenses of a new site or a 
new school-house which the district desires to pay for in install- 
ments. This is specially authorized by statute. But this is the 
only cause for which a district may borrow money. The law pro- 
vides the way for raising money for all ordinary purposes, and 
expects trustees to exercise the powers which make it unnecessary 
to borrow money, and have the money on hand when it is needed. 


INSTITUTES. 


Trustees are bound to close the schools during institute week. 
There is no discretion about the matter. They must pay teachers 
who attend the institute the same as though the school had been 
open. They can not properly pay teachers for teaching school dur- 
ing institute week. ‘Teachers are not entitled to pay for institute 
week unless they attend the institute. 


ARBoR Day. 


The act establishing Arbor Day imposes upon trustees the duty 
of promoting the observance thereof. It moreover gives them an 
opportunity to improve the school grounds, which any efficient 
officer is bound to embrace. 


VACANCIES IN OFFICE. 


Trustees vacate oftice by ‘death, refusal to serve, incapacity, 
removal from the district, or by removal from office.” ‘Trustees may 
be removed from office by the State Superintendent, but only upon 
charges and after an opportunity to answer. Vacancies may be 


filled by the district at special meeting. If the district does not act 


16 


within thirty days, the school commissioner may appoint. Trustees 
have the power to appoint persons to fill vacancies in any subor- 
dinate district office. 

PERSONAL INTERESTS. 

More trustees get into trouble because they subordinate official 
duty to their personal interests than from any other cause. It may 
be said, in as broad terms as the language can put it, that trustees 
can do nothing, can stand in no relationship, incompatible with 
entire freedom of official action. They are first and always to pro- 
tect the interests of their districts. They can get no pay for per- 
sonal services rendered their districts. They can not work as 
mechanics or laborers in constructing or repairing the school build- 
ing and be paid for their work. Neither can they take a contract 
or a subcontract for that purpose or work for a contractor engaged 
in such work. They can have no personal interest opposed to the 
general interest of their districts. They are to keep themselves free 
to see that contractors and workmen perform their work properly 
and completely. Nor cana trustee have any personal interest in 
any agreement to which he is officially a party. He can not share 
in the wages of the teacher or any other employé directly or indi- 
rectly. He can not purchase furniture or supplies of himself or of a 
firm in which he is interested. These principles are as old as the 
common law itself, but they are specially declared in the Penal Code 
of the State, which provides that any violation of them shall be a 
crime and punishable by a fine or imprisonment, or both. 


PERSONAL LIABILITY. 


Trustees are not only liable for misdoings in office, but they are 
personally liable for neglect of duty. If any moneys are lost to the 
district by reason of their failure to perform their duty, they are 
personally liable for the amount, and in some cases the statute 
imposes upon them a liability to pay twice the amount of the loss 
as a penalty for their neglect of duty. Various penalties are 
incurred for failure to perform specific duties. The law not only 
exacts honesty, but it exacts fidelity and even alertness in the office 


of trustee. He is bound to pay as close attention to the perform- 


ance of the public business as to his own private business. 


RECORDS AND REPORTS. 


Trustees are required to procure necessary blank-books and keep 
proper records of all district meetings and of all of their own transac- 


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tions. They must make inventories of public property and deliver 
the same to their successors in office. They must see that the 
teachers’ register of attendance and of visits to or other occurrences 
in the school, are fully kept. He has to make reports of all of his 
transactions, and particularly of all moneys received and paid, to the 
meetings of his district. He must also make such statistical 
reports for public uses as the law or the Department of Public 
Instruction may require. He must report upon any special matter 
upon request of superior authority. 


* CALLING SPECIAL MEETINGS. 


Trustees may call special district meetings at any time. While 
districts are not to be kept in turmoil by frequent meetings, over 
frivolous matters, still any respectable and substantial element in 
the district which requests a district meeting, should be accorded 
the privilege. The trustee should act upon all ordinary matters, 
but in any extraordinary or unusual matter upon which the district 
is liable to divide in opinion, he should take the direction of a dis- 
trict meeting. He is a wise trustee who acts independently upon 
matters concerning which the law expects him to act independently 
and who upon all other matters affords ample opportunity for a 
free discussion and a fair expression of public sentiment, and then 
carries out the determination of the majority, whether it is in entire 
accord with his own views or not. 


In CONCLUSION. 


We have thus passed over the more general and important pro- 
visions of law relating to the powers and responsibilities of district 
trustees. In Union Free School districts these powers and duties 
are considerably enlarged, for the size of such districts makes it 
necessary. What has been said in this paper has been said with a 
view to its application to districts of either class. Something more 
might, however, be said touching the action of boards of education 
in Union Free School districts. 

Enough has been said to show that the office of school trustee is 
by no means so insignificant, and that the position is by no means. 
as irresponsible as it is frequently regarded. It is a station of high 
authority and responsibility. It may be administered to great pub- 
lic advantage. It is not purely a local office. It is part and parcel 
of a great State system, instituted and maintained for carrying 
free instruction to the children of every home. It must be admin- 

3 


18 


istered with knowledge of that fact, and with reference to both local 
and general results. | 

A public office commonly attains the importance which the incum- 
bent brings to it. Thatof school trustee is no exception to the gen- 
eral rule. If administered with intelligence, with a disinterested 
desire to promote the public weal, with tact and good sense, but with 
energy and thoroughness, it brings great advantage to the public 
and great credit to the holder. To put it in another way, the place 
is one which will very soon test and demonstrate the qualities of the 
holder. The one who can administer this office successfully will be 
one who will exert a healthful and stimulating influence in any com- 
munity, and will show his fitness for other public trusts. 


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3 1925 : 


0112 06194 


